1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image formation device and an image formation method, and more particularly to an image formation device and image formation method for forming images on the basis of information added to an image formation member.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the development of information communications equipment, the establishment of communications infrastructure, the spread of personal computers and so forth, it has become possible to acquire large amounts of information via electronic media which record and propagate electronic information, and to process that information on computers. On the other hand, paper media have been used as information media for recording and propagating information since the distant past. Even now, the transmission and exchange of many kinds of information is carried out with paper media such as postcards, letters, books, newspapers, etc.
Both of these have their advantages. Electronic media are excellent in regard to information processability, reusability, searchability, ease of forming associations between information, and so forth. On the other hand, paper media are excellent in regard to visual scannability, transportability, physical presence and so forth. Accordingly, rather then electronic media replacing paper media, the ideal situation is for the two to complement each other while bringing out one another's advantages.
By printing, it is possible to convert information on an electronic medium to information on a paper medium. However, digital information of the electronic medium will be lost in the process of printing. Further, while it is possible to convert information on a paper medium to information on an electronic medium with a character recognition device such as an optical character reader (OCR) or the like, in techniques that use image recognition, there are limits to recognition capabilities and conversion speeds.
In order to solve these problems, various processes of printing codes which can be digitalized, such as glyph codes, two-dimensional barcodes and the like, on paper media have been proposed. For example, a system has been proposed which integrates information on the World Wide Web (WWW) with information on paper media, by representing a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) relating to information printed on a paper medium with a two-dimensional code and printing this two-dimensional code on the paper medium (“Testing of integration of the WWW with paper media using two-dimensional codes”, “Human Interface” 76-1, “Information Media” 33-1, Jan. 29, 1998).
QR CODES (R), for example, can be used as two-dimensional codes. It is possible to store 134 bytes of data with a 41×41-cell QR CODE (R), which is plenty for defining URL information or ID information. When this system is used, it is possible to read a QR CODE (R) which has been applied to a paper medium and access a WWW URL and, as required, to obtain electronic information corresponding to information on the paper medium.
Recently, μ-CHIPS (R), which are microelectronic semiconductor chips from which stored data can be read from outside without contact and which can be embedded even in paper and the like, have been developed (MYCOM PC WEB, news headlines, Jul. 5, 2001: http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2001/07/05/22.html). Thus, when a μ-CHIP (R) storing URL information, ID information or the like is embedded in a paper medium, it is possible to acquire this information without contact.
Recording media at which, similarly to paper media, images can be formed by copiers and the like include OHP sheets. These OHP sheets have specifications which are favorable for respective copier models, and it is preferable to use branded products which are appropriate to a copier. Accordingly, an OHP sheet which is provided with a transparent hologram on the sheet for verifying whether or not the sheet is a branded product, by using an image reconstructed from the hologram, has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 09-090665).
Meanwhile, a printing device which, utilizing a transfer film ribbon at which a hologram pattern has been formed in advance, transfers and prints a hologram image on a display medium such as paper or the like with a thermal head, and a display medium formed by this printing device have been proposed (JP-A No. 2000-211257). With this printing apparatus, on-demand printing of hologram images is possible.
However, the two-dimensional codes and semiconductor chips described above are only provided with storage capacities of at most several hundred bytes. These storage capacities are sufficient for storing URL information, ID information and the like but are far too small for storing, in electronic form, all of the information that is printed on a paper medium. Ultimately, it is necessary to provide a server to serve as a data center for collecting and administering electronic information, and to use the URL information, ID information and the like that has been retrieved from the two-dimensional code or semiconductor chip to gain access and download larger volumes of electronic information from the server. Thus, there is a problem in that it is necessary to create a very large-scale system for administering, with IDs, electronic information corresponding to information on paper media and for collecting this information at servers beforehand.
Furthermore, the μ-CHIP (R) described above is exclusively for reading, and writing of new information or overwriting of the stored information is not possible. Therefore, there is a problem in that the μ-CHIP (R) is not suitable for on-demand printing when there is a requirement that different electronic information is stored at each paper medium. Meanwhile, although the storage capacity of holograms is larger than that of two-dimensional codes or semiconductor chips, conventional holograms such as relief type holograms, in which protrusions and depressions are formed in a plastic film by embossing, and the like are exclusively for reading, and are similarly not suitable for on-demand printing.
Further still, paper media in which semiconductor chips are embedded pose a hazard to the environment and cannot be discarded just as they are. Consequently, there is a problem in that when paper media are being discarded, it is necessary to separate out paper media in which semiconductor chips are embedded and recover the semiconductor chips separately.
Further yet, with the display medium of JP-A No. 2000-211257, at which hologram images are printed on demand, because the hologram images are used visually, non-visible electronic information cannot be added to the display medium.